The present invention generally relates to a separating drum housing a multiple of cylindrically shaped separating elements which are arranged parallel to the axis of the drum to form a plurality of separating slots and more particularly to an arrangement to form an adjustable separating slot.
Separating drums of the type concerned here are employed to separate various and differing objects. For this reason, it is often necessary to alter the drum, i.e. reset the size of the separating slot situated on the circumference of the drum.
In the case of conventional commercial apparatuses, each separating slot must be set individually. Needless to say, this is not only troublesome, but also prone to errors. Considering that a large number of settings must be made, it can easily happen that one or more separating slots may be set for the wrong size.
Simple solutions for setting the size of the individual separating slots distributed around the circumference have hitherto been unknown.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to improve a separating drum having a multiple of separating slots distributed around the circumference in such a manner that setting the slot size can occur centrally while still retaining a simple construction.
In accordance with advantageous features of preferred embodiments of the present invention, the separating drum has separating elements which are firmly connected in pairs respectively by means of at least one carrier element, which is provided on the front face of the separating element. The carrier element can be pivoted around the longitudinal axis of one of the pair of connected cylindrically shaped separating element situated in the circumference of the drum to form a rotatable and a pivotable separating element. Further, an adjusting wheel is provided which can be driven by a circling adjusting element to set the separating slot. The adjusting wheel being in the axis of pivot of the carrier element, preferably on at least one of the front faces of the rotatable separating element.
By this combination of features it is possible to reset the separating slot in a single adjustment operation by driving the circling adjusting element when the objects to be separated are changed.
The setting operation may be performed by hand as well as automatically via a process control unit.
As in any event the settings of all the separating slots are changed jointly and simultaneously, it is not necessary to check the dimensions of each individual separating slot, for which reason resetting is not only substantially simplified, but also sources of error in setting the size of the slots are eliminated.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the adjusting wheel is a sprocket wheel and the adjusting element is a chain which can be driven by a driving means. Naturally, however, it is also possible to use a gear belt as the circling element or a similar circling element, such as, by way of illustration a V-belt; a chain, however, has economic advantages over the gear belt especially in the case of small series production.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, it is advantageous if the circling element can be fixed in such a manner that the setting of the separating slots cannot be altered during operation.
According to yet another embodiment of the present invention the cylindrically shaped separating elements are firmly attached, i.e. cannot rotate around their individual axes, to the carrier element. It is particularly advantageous to realize the invented arrangement in separating drums of this type as, by way of illustration, it results in a simple construction of the carrier element.
By yet a further embodiment of the present invention the pivotable separating element is positioned adjacent a separating lamina firmly attached to the drum to form the separating slot. This arrangement ensures that objects of complicated shape, by way of example having lugs or the like, cannot catch in the separating arrangement.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.